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I am in the process of creating my first fett costume head to toe. My wife bought me a bucket on eBay, (I only now know all about recast and so forth please no flames) I had to do a lot of thinning the inside down to get it to fit. I mean a ton of work and it still is hard to get it on my head, it's not that big I swear. Anyways in the process of thinning it down I cracked on cheek about and inch and wore a thin spot in another. What do I use to repair it? Please dented helmet you are my only hope!

two part plumbers putty works well on resin kits. It looks like play dough and comes in a tube, with two different colored ends. When you mix the two ends together it has a chemical reaction and hardens into a solid resin. I have used it to repair a couple of helmets and it worked great.

Yeah I think I will paint it and sell it as a display if the guy on eBay doesn't take it back. I am hoping to get one from one of the guys here like was my original plan till my wife tried to surprise me.

You can fix that up for minimal cost, and troop with it no problem. Honestly, I really don't get what happened to this forum. Back in the day people were proud to be able to take a turd and polish it into a gem. Now people just seem to tell you to buy a new one from someone else, rather than just spend a couple days fixing it. Sentimental value alone, is why you should fix it up and troop with it.

I believe the advice was to fix it up, paint it, learn on it and make a great display piece out of it. Not to throw it away.

You can certainly make that helmet look fine, it will take some time and work. As far as trooping in it I would worry about the durability of the helmet. You can troop it but be prepared for damage to occur. That happens with high dollar and low dollar helmets. Things just get bumped around.

You can try to reinforce the helmet with fiberglass also if you wanted to. It is just a process of layering the inside of the bucket. It would add some strength to it.

@grottyfurball. It isn't this forum, it's advice from one or two folks with what info we are given. Already stated he could barely get his head in it, so not sure adding material would help in the aspect of trooping. Maybe you should re-read my post before commenting.

if you do plan to keep it and want to reinforce it , try smooth cast 310 from smooth on with fiberglass mat material. Smooth on is urethane based and will bond properly to the resin, which is also urethane based. They make a starter kit that should be sufficient quantity to fix that.

@grottyfurball. It isn't this forum, it's advice from one or two folks with what info we are given. Already stated he could barely get his head in it, so not sure adding material would help in the aspect of trooping. Maybe you should re-read my post before commenting.

if you do plan to keep it and want to reinforce it , try smooth cast 310 from smooth on with fiberglass mat material. Smooth on is urethane based and will bond properly to the resin, which is also urethane based. They make a starter kit that should be sufficient quantity to fix that.

A) I wasn't making that comment to you. It seems to be a trend on these forums now.

B) This is the second time I've seen you giving advice on materials where you don't know what you're talking about. Fiberglass mat has a bonding agent that holds the glass together that is not dissolved by urethane resin. Fiberglass cloth would be a different case as it doesn't have the bonder in it. Using any smooth cast, isn't going to give you a "proper bond" at all. The only way you would be able to get a proper bond, would be to use a solvent based material to soften up the cured resin. Which is a bad idea in any case, but more so once the item is out of it's mold. In this case, a mechanical bond is what is needed, and would be achieved by scuffing up the helmet, and using proper fiberglassing materials.

Ok. Well don't put any pressure on regular resin on urethane it will start to disbond. Standard resin is polystyrene and doesn't like urethane. Same principle as why some epoxies stick to some materials well and not so much to others.

Thanks for all the info guys it's been a big help. One of my biggest problems with this helmet is I can't get it on with out scrapping up my head in a few places. At this point unless the guy takes it back it will be my practice helmet that I will paint and then sell to a local shop that some guys have expressed interest in.

Ok. Well don't put any pressure on regular resin on urethane it will start to disbond. Standard resin is polystyrene and doesn't like urethane. Same principle as why some epoxies stick to some materials well and not so much to others.

Dude, just because you had a bad experience, doesn't make it a fact. Fiberglass resin, be it polyester, vinylester, or epoxy, are specifically chosen because or their neutrality on cured resins. There has been thousands of people to fiberglass their resin helmets after receiving them and had no issues what so ever. Somewhere along the line you went wrong. It's not the processes fault. A properly done fiberglass job will not fail. Full disclosure, I am a professional fiberglass laminator. So feel free to pm me if you'd like to discuss it further.

However, if the helmet is as small as the op says, I can understand the discomfort. Even with my TF helmet the cheeks rubbed against mine and that is a larger helmet. If you could post some pictures of your helmet with a tape measure across the bottom and height and whatnot. We could better advise what helmet to upgrade to. Personally I wouldn't sell a helmet my girl got for me. Fix it up, and see if you can convince her to do a girl fett.

Syllander suggested the smooth on method for reinforcing my Man Of War Gaunts (Currently have a WiP thread) I can't thank Him enough. The stuff doesn't stink and it's easy to use. I used a light coat of 3M spray on adhesive to get the FG to lay nice and flat before applying the Smooth On Urethane (A two part mixture). If you can't fit your hea in there, it's redundant to suggest adding layers inside will bring you back to the original problem. I personally have ASOK's Cold Cast Aluminum "Budget" helmet $175. Worth every penny.

Syllander suggested the smooth on method for reinforcing my Man Of War Gaunts (Currently have a WiP thread) I can't thank Him enough. The stuff doesn't stink and it's easy to use. I used a light coat of 3M spray on adhesive to get the FG to lay nice and flat before applying the Smooth On Urethane (A two part mixture). If you can't fit your hea in there, it's redundant to suggest adding layers inside will bring you back to the original problem. I personally have ASOK's Cold Cast Aluminum "Budget" helmet $175. Worth every penny.

I only recommended fiberglassing because one layer is all that is needed and is a negligible amount when it comes to making or breaking fitting. Contrary to belief, fiberglass doesn't have to be a mile thick to be strong. In fact, that is what makes it brittle. While polyester resin does stink something fierce (can't comment on vinylester, but epoxy doesn't stink) I would rather work with a material that is obviously bad for my health, and makes me wear a respirator, than a material that deceives you to think that it isn't bad for you because it smells pleasant. You're still supposed to wear a respirator with smooth cast stuff. Smooth cast IS a hazardous material. Aside from it not being the right way to do it. I don't understand how reinforcing something, with a material of the same tensile strength is going to be much of an advantage.

Anyways. My intention was never to derail animattor's thread. Just to offer my 2cents.